Wham Rap! (Enjoy What You Do)
}} | Format = | Recorded = 1981-82 | Genre = | Length = |3:28 |6:36 |6:43 }} | Label = | Producer = Bob Carter | Writer = | Misc = | Last single = | This single = "Wham Rap! (Enjoy What You Do)" (1982) | Next single = "Young Guns (Go for It!)" (1982) }} "Wham Rap! (Enjoy What You Do)" is the debut single by British pop duo Wham! on Innervision Records, released in 1982. It was written by Wham! members George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley. Although rap was still an underground and almost exclusively American phenomenon in the early-1980s, as the title implies, Michael rapped a number of verses about the joys of living every day to the fullest, reveling in unemployment and celebrating government assistance from the Department of Health and Social Security (the initials "DHSS" are repeatedly chanted during the song). The explicitly political song flew in the face of the conventional British left-wing who were talking about the 'Right to work' at the time. The chorus asked the question "Do you enjoy what you do?", which brought about the bracketed section of the title. The video depicted Michael and Ridgeley in their leather jackets, combining their moody image with a bright, effervescent choreography.Steele, Robert Careless Whispers: The Life & Career of George Michael Omnibus Press, 2011 Retrieved January 8, 2016. The song, which had been tentatively released in June 1982 when Wham! were unknown, and failed to make any impact, was re-issued in January 1983 after the duo had achieved their breakthrough with "Young Guns (Go for It!)". It subsequently reached #8 on the UK Singles Chart, the second of four hits from Wham!'s debut album Fantastic. Uncharacteristically for Wham!, the Unsocial Mix of the song contains multiple repetitions of the swear words damn, bullshit, shit and crap. All versions include "don't need this crap". These lines were included to illustrate the band's then rebellious image, and future songs by Wham! would mostly refrain from using this type of language (although "Battlestations" does include an instance of 'bullshit'). Both the Social Mix and the Fantastic album version have different verses to the Unsocial Mix, thus there are three different sets of verse lyrics altogether. However, only the album version has appeared on CD. A new remix of the song was made in 1986, combining some of the Unsocial Mix with the album version. This version, entitled "Wham! Rap '86", was released on their American and Japanese album Music from the Edge of Heaven, and as the B-side to "The Edge of Heaven" in the UK and Europe. The original version of the song was used for the 1985 film drama Perfect from James Bridges, with John Travolta and Jamie Lee Curtis. Track listing 1982 release *Note: Due to an error in labelling, the "Unsocial Mix" is listed as the single's A-side despite Michael specifically referring to it as the B-side in the song's lyrics: "Hey, everybody, now listen to me/Cut the radio bullshit, this is side B." 1983 reissue Charts Weekly charts References Category:1982 singles Category:Debut singles Category:1982 songs Category:1983 singles Category:CBS Records singles Category:Songs written by George Michael Category:Wham! songs